Kayleigh Leonie | TandonHildebrand

I grew up in Jersey in the Channel Islands before moving to England to go to University in 2005. I was the first person in my family to go to University. Following graduation, I successfully secured a training contract at a firm in Brighton. Prior to commencing this, I spent a year working for a law firm in Jersey and then attended law school in London.

To build a successful legal network in Brighton, I was a founding committee member of the Sussex Junior Lawyers Division (JLD). The JLD gave me a fantastic platform from which to share my experiences of working in the legal profession with other junior lawyers and acted as a support network. Once I qualified as a solicitor in 2012, I moved to a firm in Kent to specialise in employment law and became an executive committee member of the Junior Lawyers Division of the Law Society of England and Wales. In 2015 I was delighted to be elected as a Council Member of the Law Society of England and Wales to represent junior lawyers with up to five years’ post-qualification experience. In 2016 I joined an international London firm and undertook a secondment in–house to a global accountancy firm’s HR department. As someone who struggled with anxiety during secondary school, university and whilst at law school, I enjoyed the opportunity that this secondment gave me to support a number of employees who were experiencing physical and mental health issues.

As a Council Member, I was keen to focus on supporting junior lawyers with mental health issues and to help those experiencing high levels of stress at work. To ascertain the extent of this amongst junior lawyers, I conducted a survey in 2017 which received over 200 responses. One of the key statistics from the survey showed that junior lawyers did not think that there was enough support for those struggling with the demands of the profession, causing stress and mental health issues. As a result, I have worked on a number of different initiatives to try to provide more resources and support to junior lawyers and their firms, and this is something about which I am passionate.

I have since joined a small employment team in a firm in the City and I sit on its Diversity Committee and Physical and Mental Wellbeing Network. I am also a Wellbeing Mentor for my firm. I am shortly about to start a new role with a small start-up legal and business advisory, TandonHildebrand, where I hope to try something different in the legal profession by working in a new way. I am hoping to be able to develop my practice more on mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession and am excited about the opportunities that this new venture will offer.